Discoverers

The Spaghetti and Marshmallow Challenge!

The children were set a task in groups to make the tallest tower they could only using spaghetti and marshmallows that would stand up on its own.  This proved to be an very tricky and sticky task!  The children came up with lots of very different ideas for their towers.  The winning team produced a well thought out structure and worked extremely well together as a team.  Proving that Together Everyone Achieves More.

Fruity Friday!

As part of our knew science topic this term about being healthy each Friday will be 'Fruity Friday' in Discoverer's Class.  We will be tasting a new fruit each week that the children perhaps haven't tried before.  This week we tried a Mango.  The children had to use their 5 senses to come up with adjectives to describe the mango.  Here are some of the adjectives they came up with: firm, tangy, sweet, juicy, fizzy, squishy, green,orange, round,smooth.  I was extremely impressed that all the children tried the mango and that nearly all of them said that they really enjoyed it and would love to eat a full one again.  Look out next week for our next taste sensation!

Welcome Back Discoverers' Class!

I hope you have all had a fantastic summer and that you are looking forward to being back at school.  I certainly am as we have a very exciting term ahead full of lots of fun activities! Mrs Hill and myself have been busy getting our classroom all ready for you.  I am excited to see the year 3 children that were already in Discoverer's class and welcoming the new year 2 children into our class.  We also have two new year 3 children to welcome into our class.  Over the next two days we will be going through any changes and getting to know each other again as it has been a long time since we were all in school together.  I know that lots of you might be a bit worried about coming back to school (me and Mrs Hill are also a bit nervous), so for the first 2 weeks we will be reading some book all about ur emotions and doing lots of fun activities based on them that will help us all to deal with some of these worries or other feelings we might have at the moment or have had during this strange period in our lives. 

I will be meeting you at the main gate in the mornings as this where your parents will be dropping you off and picking you up.  Other classes will be using different entrances. School will look a little bit  different as the new building work has started. I can't wait for the the transformations especially what is planned for our new classroom.

See you all very soon

Mrs Howarth

To Discoverer's Class old and new

Words can not express how much I have missed seeing all of you together in our classroom each day. I realise this drastic change wasn’t easy, but I am extremely proud of all of you and what you have been doing at home.  I hope you have been able to spend more time with your family and have enjoyed not having to set your alarms every day!

All of you have impressed me more than you will ever know. I am proud of your flexibility, positivity and resilience during these crazy times. Although this wasn’t the ending we were expecting those children moving up to year 4 please know that I will miss you immensely and please pop your heads in to see me as you progress through the school.

I am looking forward to teaching the current year 2’s in year 3 next year and welcoming the current Year 1 children into Discoverer’s class.  Myself and Mrs Hill (who will be your TA next year) have lots of exciting things planned.

Hooray the summer holidays are here.  What exciting things will you do over the summer? I have attached a grid of summer activities for you to do over the holidays.  Those in my class next year look out for something through your doors with a summer challenge that I would like you to do before we come back to school. l will continue to miss you over the next six weeks. I hope you and your families all have a wonderful summer! You deserve it! I am looking forward to seeing you in September.

Love Mrs Howarth

Hi Discoverer's 

I am sorry that I am late writing to you all this week but I was busy in school at the beginning of the week.  On Friday and Monday we were all getting everything ready for more children coming back to school.  One of my jobs was painting lines 2 metres apart on the playground for lining up and at the school gates for drop off and pick-up just like there is at the supermarkets,  I ended up with paint all over me and Mrs Hill (who was measuring for me) forgot and stood in the paint which was very funny!!  The classrooms also look very different and we are now in our own 'Bubbles'.  On Tuesday more keyworker children came back to school and hopefully  some children from Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 will be joining us soon too.  I am hoping that I will get chance to see you too before the summer holidays.  It was lovely to see Lucinda and her mum on Friday on my way to school walking her dog.  I have also received lots of e-mails from you all this week which was lovely.  If you haven't sent an e-mail,postcard or letter yet please do.

Keep up the baking I have had some great pictures of your amazing creations this week.  They look delicious!! We have been baking again this week too.  We made chocolate chip cookies and raspberry ripple buns.  We have also had lots of BBQ's and made the most of the fantastic weather we have been having.

I hope you are all keeping well and safe and remember to send me pictures of what you have been doing at home.  Take a look below at what some of you have been up to this week.

Love  Mrs Howarth xx

Hello again Discoverers

I hope you are all still well and keeping safe.  Well this week should have been half term and I'm sure that many of you had lots of plans for things to do with your families or perhaps going on holiday.  We should have been in New York this week.  Mr Howarth should have been working over there and me and the girls were joining him for the week and going to stay with his brother and family who live over there.  Hopefully the sun will shine this week and we can all enjoy doing lots of activities outside.  

I was in school for some of the time this week and we were still at Boarshaw.  However, we are moving back to St John's this week so that we can prepare for more children returning over the next few weeks. I am really missing seeing your smiley faces in the morning, hearing you laughter filling our classroom and hearing all about what you have been up to when you rush to my desk in a morning to tell me your news.  

I have loved all the pictures you have sent me this week of your home learning. I have also been amazed by some of the pictures that you have sent in of your baking for our 'GREAT DISCOVERER'S BAKE OFF'.  Please keep sending these in -  you never know you may even get a 'Hollywood Handshake' and there will be a prize at the end for the best entry.  We have been busy baking again at the Howarth household (well Isabel and Marisa have I am not allowed in the kitchen anymore until they unveil their latest creations which I have to say always taste delicious!)  This week we have had salted caramel cupcakes. It was also my Uncle Frank's 85th Birthday so the girls made him a very special birthday cake which he loved.

I hope you all have a lovely Bank holiday weekend and keep sending in your pictures so that I can see what you have all been doing. 

Love 

Mrs Howarth

Hello again Discoverer's

I hope you have all had a good week.  I have loved seeing all of the pictures that you have sent in of things you have been up to at home.  I especially loved seeing the science experiments that some of you have done and the pictures of you reading in different places.  Please keep sending these in and check on the slideshow under the heading reading challenge on our page for your pictures. 

This week is  Mental Health Awareness week and the theme is kindness.  I think that at the moment it is essential that we look out for each other and show little acts of kindness to make sure that people are ok and coping with the situation.  I have attached a similar RE activity all about kindness to the one we did last week on courage.  I hope that lots of you try some of these activities.

I was in school last week at Boarshaw with the children from our school that are still attending.  We did lots of fun things and even decorated some cakes making our own multi-coloured butter cream with an electric mixer.  

Whilst I have been in school my daughters have still been baking.  Infact the cakes they made this week were the best yet.  They made some butterfly buns with jam and cream in them and then they tried a new recipe for 'Blueberry cheesecake cupcakes' which were delicious! I have put some pictures of them below.

All of this baking and seeing all the things you have been making at home made me think that we should have our very own 'Great Discoverer's Bake Off'  All you have to do is send in a picture of the things you bake at home by Monday 1st June.  You may even be lucky enough to get a  Hollywood Handshake!

Happy Baking

Mrs Howarth

VE DAY CELEBRATIONS

It is lovely to see all of the work that you have done related to VE Day and how you all celebrated this momentous occasion with your familes at home.

Hi Discoverer's

I hope you are all well and have had a lovely week in the sunshine and celebrating VE day.  Please remember to send me your pictures celebrating VE day at your house with your family so that I can put them on here for the rest of the class to see.  I have also loved the pictures you have sent me of you reading - look out for them being posted on our class page.  Anyone who hasn't sent one please send them in.  The best picture might even get a prize! It is very important that you continue to read during your time at home as it helps with everything.  It is also a great way to relax and forget about everything that is going on around you.  It can even take you to far off magical places.

We have had a busy week in the Howarth household and loved celebrating VE day on Friday.  We had an afternoon tea in the garden and lots of our neighbours did the same.  It was also Mr Howarth's birthday on Friday so we made him a birthday cake, special blue layered cakes (he is a Manchester City fan!)and sweets in cones with his picture on.  As a special surprise for his birthday we had also ordered him a beard and hair trimmer as over the lockdown Mr Howarth's beard had got very long and his hair was getting bigger and bushier by the day!  Luckily it arrived in time for Isabel and Marisa to give him a birthday haircut and beard trim.  He was very brave and let them do it for him - he didn't let me touch the clippers though I wonder why! 

Keep sending me  your pictures of what you have been doing at home I love seeing what you have been up to.  I miss you all and hope that you and your families are staying safe and making the most of this very strange situation by spending lots of time together doing things that you don't usually have time for or maybe even learning a new skill .

Love

Mrs Howarth

Try one of these science experiments or find one of your own to do.

Egg White and Yolk Science Experiment and Prompt Card

Magic Potions Science Experiment and Prompt Card

Make Your Own Butter Science Experiment and Prompt Card

Picking Up an Ice Cube Science Experiment and Prompt Card

Raspberry Pi Foundation - coding activities

The Raspberry Pi Foundation have launched a new, free Digital Making at Home initiative to support parents and young people with coding at home. You don’t need any coding experience to join in, and all of their resources and activities are free forever.

Every Monday, they release new themed code-along videos about projects designed for all levels of ability. They also provide support tutorials for parents who are interested in learning more about coding tools like Scratch and Python, and over 200 projects with step-by-step instructions that are accessible online at any time — all for free.

Sign up now to start receiving free activities suitable to your child’s age and ability straight to your inbox.

Links are:-

https://www.raspberrypi.org

https://www.tfaforms.com/4815305

Reading Challenge

It is really important that we keep up our reading during these challenging times.  Reading is one of the most beneficial and enjoyable activities that we can all continue to do whilst we are at home.  At my house we have been trying to set some time aside each day to read.  Isabel has re-read all of the Harry Potter series whilst we have been at home plus several other books and Marisa has been enjoying lots of David Walliams books.  I have attached some pictures of us reading in different places.  Please can you send in pictures of you reading to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk so that I can put them on our class blog.  Where is the most unusual place that you have read your book this week?  

I look forward to seeing you reading and hearing all about the books you have been reading.  Remember that there are also lots of eBooks and audio books available free at the moment.

Love

Mrs Howarth

Hello Discoverer's

I hope that you and your families are all keeping well and that you have been doing lots of learning and other fun things this last week in lockdown.  The weather hasn't been as good this week but not as bad as it was originally forecast so in the Howarth household we have still been able to go out for our daily walks and bike rides.  I have loved looking at the pictures that you have sent me showing me what you have all been up to.  It always cheers me up to seeing your smiley faces and all the hard work you are putting into your home learning.  This weeks homelearning grid is themed around VE day which is being marked as a special bank holiday this year on Friday 8th May.  We will be double celebrating at our house this week at this is also Mr Howarth's birthday.  I thought that as the celebrations that had been planned for this day to mark this special moment in history can't go ahead because of lockdown that us in Discoverer's class could have our very own stay at home/virtual parties.  I have created a booklet which is below to help you to prepare for your own home/virtual celebrations on Friday.  I would love to see lots of pictures of you celebrating with your families so please send them to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk  We are going to have an afternoon tea in our garden if the weather is nice enough and decorate our house.  We have also started to practice some of the wartime dances that I have put on your homelearning grid!!

I hope you have a great party and enjoy the rest of your week in the sunshine.  Remember that I am thinking of you all and can't wait until we are all back together again at school.  

Mrs Howarth

Please find below a calendar for May sent by Edstart with a PE exercise that you can do everyday to keeo fit.  You could involve the whole family!

Anyone who has given the exercises a do can get a certificate at the end of the month.  Happy exercising!

Hi Discoverers

I hope you are all keeping well and have had a lovely week in the sunshine.  We have had a good week in the Howarth household, when we haven't been working and home schooling we have done lots of things to keep busy.  We have been on lots of walks, bike rides, playing in the garden and making the most of the weather.  We have done some gardening, had a BBQ, done some science experiments and 7 months after we moved in eventually sorted our garage!  Isabel and Marisa have done lots more baking and every week they also make a cake for their grandad to enjoy and then we drop it off when we take him his weekly shopping.

On the pictures below you can also see that my eldest daughter (Isabel) made us mussels this week under the supervision of her dad.  They bought them from the fishman in a van that comes to our street every Friday, then they washed and prepared them and cooked them in a mariniere sauce.  They were delicious!!  Marisa has been mastering the art of making an omelette for our breakfast.  Have you learnt to cook anything new whilst you have been at home?  If so please send me your pictures I would love to see them as cooking is a fantastic life skill to have. 

On Saturday we had a cinema evening.  As you can't go to the cinema we tried to bring the cinema experience to our lounge. We had a carpet picnic with hot dogs, nachos and lots of goodies and watched the new 'Trolls World Tour' movie.  I would recommend it if you haven't already seen it.  On Sunday we usually go to our local Italian restaurant for a meal but we haven't been able to go recently so we were delighted when we heard that they are now doing a delivery service.  We decided that we would order some food, all get dressed up and pretend that we were going out for a meal.  Isabel and Marisa did their nails and even made Mr Howarth wear a suit!!  I think the man that delivered the food wondered what we were doing all dressed up.  

Good luck with all of your learning this week and remember to send me lots of pictures to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk It is lovely to see what you have all been up to.  Take a look below at all the exciting things that children in Discoverer's class have been doing last week.  I miss you all very much and hope to see you all very soon. 

Love Mrs Howarth

From Monday, April 20, parents will be able to access up to 180 lessons a week. The lessons will provide education for all school year groups from Reception through to year 10 and will be taught via a new Government-backed online platform, the Oak National Academy. The scheme, which has been set up by teachers and funded by the Department of Education, is set to provide video lessons for students, with each lesson arriving with a quiz and worksheet to go with it.

https://www.thenational.academy/

Good Morning Discoverers

I hope you have all had a good week and managed to complete the activities form the home learning Grid.  The new grid below is for the Easter holidays.  Please still try to complete the blue squares daily so that you can keep in your routine.  The rest of the activities are based on an Easter theme and hopefully you will have fun doing these with your families over the next 2 weeks.  There is also some sheets underneath that you can print off or use as examples to make your own time capsule about what is happening in the world at the moment so that you can look back in years to come at what you were doing and what it was like.  We have done one at my house.

I have been at home this week and it has been lovely to spend time with my family between working from home and helping my girls with their home learning.  We have been on lots of walks, bike rides (not me, I walked alongside), done lots of baking and even managed a BBQ yesterday! I am hoping for some good weather again this week as I should have been going to Spain on Thursday.  I will have to get Mr Howarth to cook me lots of Spanish food and sit in my garden instead.  I hope you all have a lovely week, I am missing you all lots and love seeing the work you have been doing.  Remember to email in some examples of your work to office@thornhamce.sch.uk

Adios, Hasta luego

Mrs Howarth

Goodbye and Good Luck Miss Flynn

Unfortunately Miss Flynn is leaving us today to embark on a new adventure.  She is starting a college course in September so that she can become a Social Worker.  Even though we are all very sad to see her go and we will miss her greatly I am sure that you will all join me in wishing her all the best in the future.  She has promised that she will stay in touch with us and come and visit.

Message from Mrs Howarth

I hope that you have all managed to complete the activities on last weeks home learning grid.  I have missed seeing your smiley faces this week in school.  I have been in school this week working with some of you doing lots of fun activities.  We have done Joe Wicks every morning in school and I hope you have too.  I don't know about you and your parents but my legs have been aching a bit after doing it!! It has been lovely to seen some of you with your families walking up and down the lane whilst we were playing outside in this lovely weather.  When I get home I have been doing lots of work with my girls who are doing their school work too.  We have also been doing lots of baking, going for walks and playing in the garden.  This weeks learning and spellings are below.  Good Luck with your learning and remember to stay home and stay safe.  I can't wait until we are back together again.

PHONICS INFORMATION
Fantastic news!  The phonics scheme we follow at St. John's are going to do daily phonics sessions LIVE. I reccommend Year 2 children to do the set 3 sessions. Follow this link and it will take you to the YouTube channel. More information about times are given on the link below.

Ruth Miskin have also uploaded some of our home reading books onto the Oxford Owl. There is more information about how to access these through the link below also.

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/coronavirus-covid-19-update/

Below are a range of useful websites for your child to access whilst learning from home. I hope you find these useful x

On Friday we got a special delivery In Discoverers class.  We received a large box marked fragile.  When we opened it we were shocked to find a possum.  There was also a letter inside explaining who had sent us the possum and giving us .

The letter was as follows:-

G'day!

I am a park ranger in Australia and I have sent you one of my possums.  I would also like to hire you as my new researchers

You will need to research possums and write a report for me.

You will use your research to help you to care for the possum that I have sent. His name is Bush.  Therefore, it is very important that you pay close attention to facts regarding their physical characteristics, habitat, life cycle and diet.

Kind regards

Park Ranger Pete

In our topic lesson the children were asked the following questions - Why does it rain?  How do clouds happen? We then read the story 'The Drop Goes Plop'  and found out all about the water cycle.  We then made our own water cycles in a plastic zippy bag and hung them in the window of our classroom to observe over the next few days.

The next day we could see droplets of water sticking to the side of the bag.  Some of these were up high (in the clouds) while other droplets were on their way back down (like rain).

Why is this happening?  It's because the water in the bag is being heated up against the sunny window. That water turns into a gas through the process called evaporation.  In nature, evaporated water vapor goes into the atmosphere, but in our bag, it has nowhere to go, so it ends up sticking to the sides of the bag, turning back into a liquid as condensation.  That condensed water when it becomes too heavy then slides back into the pool of water below as "rain".

You could create your own water cycle zip lock bag at home so that you can see the water cycle progress and ask your child to explain what is happening.

We have been finding out all about expeditions to the Antarctic regions and we researched Robert Falcon Scott adventures in 1901 and 1910. He was very brave to go out in conditions where it is difficult for humans to survive and eventually he died out in Antarctica. He was truly committed to finding out more about Antarctica and his work there has helped people learn more about the conditions there. 

We thought about what we might need if we were to go on an expedition there. We know that animals and people cannot live in Antarctica as it is too cold and there would be nothing to eat! It is hard to imagine how cold it is there! We also know that Inuits do not live in the South Pole so building an igloo only happens in the North Pole. We did talk about the ice and held some for as long as we could in our hands. We talked about what it would be like to build an igloo and we all tried to make one from ice! It didn't last long because it melted with the heat in the classroom. We did try to make an igloo that would stand up but used marshmallows instead of ice cubes. It was a bit of a challenge but with team work and perseverance (and a few cocktail sticks) each group managed to build an igloo!

The festival of Sukkot is a Jewish celebration. It occurs between September and October.

Jewish families build a shelter in their garden that they will have their meals and pray in for the week of Sukkot. It helps them remember the time when Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses led them to freedom. A sukkah is a three sided shelter with an open roof to see heaven.

Look at our paper models of our sukkots.

Welcome Back Discoverers' Class

I hope that you have all enjoyed your summer holidays and are ready for the busy and exciting term we have ahead. This term Discoverer's will be travelling back in time to the Stone Age.  As we journey back to this primitive age we will look at the people and animals that lived during this time, their dwellings and the things they did and made.  I have 'hunted and gathered' for some fun activities for us to do over the next few weeks, which will ROCK your world!

This week we have been making our own wormeries

A Wormery is a simple, clean and efficient way of turning ordinary organic kitchen waste into nutrient rich liquid plant feed and excellent organic compost. Essentially through the action of a colony of composting worms the waste is neutralised and 'speedily' processed into compost,  The children have really enjoyed studying worms this week and finding out how useful they are.  We will be observing what is happening in out wormeries over the next couple of weeks and recording our findings in our science books.

Titanic

Discoverers are very excited about their new topic - The Titanic and have been busy finding out lots of facts about the infamous ship.  We will become history detectives and try to find out who really was responsible for sinking the unsinkable ship.

Chinese Celebration Day

To mark the end of our topic on Ancient China and Dragons, Discoverers class invited their parents into class for the afternoon to share with them some of the things they have been doing over the last half term.  We had an amazing time and would also live to thank all the parents, grandparents and carers who came in to celebrate with us.

We sang 2 of the song that we have been learning with Mrs Purser in music - 'The Dragon Song' and 'Puff the Magic Dradon'

Chopstick Challenge

The children all took part in a chopstick challenge. I was very impressed with how well they all did.

Science Week

In Discoverers class we have been reading the book 'The Snow Dragon' by Vivian French.  Following on from this book about a world divided into two - the North and the South. The southern half is ruled by evil Fire Dragons and the north is controlled by peace-loving Snow Dragons. In between the two halves live the Twolegs people. A special book known simply as 'Book' contains a set of instructions on how the world works. The Fire Dragons get hold of Book and cause 'The Happening', which destroys the land and forces the Twolegs to live underground to protect themselves from the Fire Dragons. However, a little Twoleg boy called Tuft joins forces with a Snow Dragon to save the world from the Fire Dragons by entering their volcano.  This book then inspired us to create our own volcanoes.  In groups the children designed their volcano which had to be made out of natural materials.  They then made a bases for their volcanoes out of salt dough.  

The Volcanoes Erupted

We added the vinegar, baking soda and red food colouring to the bottle that was inside our volcanoes.    We then waited to see what would happen.  We were very excited to see that our volcanoes erupted!! We then found out that this was caused by a chemical reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda.  When they mix together they create a gas called carbon dioxide.  Carbon dioxide is the same type of gas used to make fizzy drinks fizzy, We then considered and discussed this question - What happens if you shake a fizzy drink? The gas gets very excited and tries to spread out.  There is not enough room in the bottle for the gas to spread out so it leaves the opening very quickly causing an eruption!

Terracotta Army

Today we have be learning all about the Terracotta Army, the buried army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.  We then made our own Terracotta warriors out of clay adding individual details to them just like the ancient sculptures.  The children's creations are amazing and almost as impressive as the real thing!

Our science lesson this week was intercepted by an alien from Dock 5 called Zinnia.  She wants to set up a hotel on her planet for humans to go and visit their planet.  She has heard that a lot of human foods come from plants and would like us to investigate what plants need in order to grow strong and healthy and she would also like us to find out about the different parts of a plant that we eat.We have set up an investigation to see how important certain factors are for growing a healthy plant.  Each group is looking at a different factor.  They are investigating light, water, air, space, warmth and soil and how if they change the amount of this factor the plant gets will it effect the plants growth.  This will help Zinnia to see if they have the correct requirements to grow plants on Dock 5.

Welcome back Discoverers Class

We have lots of fun things planned this term.  Our topic is 'Here be Dragons'.  We will become expert Dragonologists and also learn about Ancient China.  Watch this Space.....

Owl Pellet Investigation

We looked around our local area to see if we could find any evidence of nocturnal animals.  We found out that there must be an owl living at our church - St John's Thornham.  There was lots of evidence of owl pellets on the steps.  Mrs Powell kindly brought us some samples into class so that we could see what was inside an owl pellet.  After researching owls we had found out that owls don't have any teeth so they swallow their food whole! Therefore they can't digest the bones,teeth and fur of their prey.  These “extra” parts are formed into a tight PELLET inside the owl and are then are later SPIT UP by the owl.

Inside the owl pellets that we looked at we found  tiny teeth,bones and fur.  The children were amazed to discover this. 

While the World is Sleeping

On Tuesday night as part of our new night time topic Discoverers came back to school at night wearing their pyjamas.  We all brought a teddy, a torch and a mug to help us with the activities that Mrs Howarth had planned.  We learnt all about nocturnal animals.  First we played a game where we had to guess the nocturnal animal sounds.  Then we went on a scavenger hunt looking for nocturnal animal facts with only our torches to light the way.  When the children entered the hall they couldn't believe their eyes!  There was a hug inflatable planetarium waiting for them.  We all went inside to learn more about night time before snuggling up with a hot chocolate and biscuits whilst they listened to a bedtime story - "While the World is Sleeping". We all had a fantastic time and enjoyed seeing what school was like in the evening.  

What we have found out about Christmas in Spain

In Discoverers Class we have learnt all about Christmas in Spain – ‘Navidad En Espagne’. We found out that in Spain as well as Christmas day, there is another festival that is celebrated that is about the Christmas Story. It is called Epiphany and is celebrated on 6th January. In Spanish, Epiphany is called Los Reyes de Magos': in English this means 'The festival of the three Kings’. Epiphany celebrates when the Kings or Wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Children receive some presents on Christmas Day from Father Christmas, but most are received at Epiphany, when the Kings bring presents.

"Roscon de Reyes" is a traditional dessert, served the night before or morning of “Los Reyes” It is traditional to put several surprises inside the "roscon." In class we made our own Roscon and ate it in the traditional way dipped in a thick hot chocolate. It was delicious!

We also found out about another Spanish tradition. 'Tio Navidad'. In a region of Spain called Catalunya the children are given a decorated log with a blanket. They receive the log on the 8^th December then have to look after it like a pet until Christmas Eve.

We designed and made our own Tio Navidad. On Christmas Eve the children tap the log in the hope that their tio Navidad will deliver them sweets under its blanket.  I wonder if ours will work?

Rochdale Fire Museum

Discoverers class had a great time at Rochdale Fire museum thanks to Bob and his team of volunteers.  We took part in a Great Fire of London workshop to start with then had a tour of the museum.  The children were able to see historic fire engines and learn about fire fighting in Manchester throughout history.  They had a very hands on experience, being able to hand pump some of the old fire engines, try helmets and fire fighting equipment on and some even got to try to slide down a replica fire pole.

Discoverers Class Assembly

The children performed their story of the Great Fire of London through drama and song.  They were fantastic and I hope you all enjoyed the performance especially the bacon/sausage sandwiches afterwards!

Our Amazing Tudor Houses!

On Monday we had a great DT day making Tudor houses.  The children used the TASC wheel to design, make and evaluate their model.  There was glue, cello-tape, paper, boxes and straw everywhere but our finished products were fantastic!   They are now ready for us to make our very own Pudding Lane.  Will ours set on fire? Watch this space...

A Fantastic introduction to our new topic - The Great Fire of London

We had a special visit from Katherine, a maid from 1666,   She brought our topic alive by bringing in artefacts that the children could touch and study from this period.  The children became archaeological detectives finding out what the things were used for in everyday life.  They were able to handle investigate and draw the artefacts and even got to write with a real quill and ink.

Our Trip To Blackpool Zoo

It was fantastic to meet our adopted tiger Alyona at last!  Her stripes were no longer green and she was relaxing in the sun in her enclosure.  We gave the zookeeper our healthy eating plates and she was going to give them to Alyona to show her at feeding time.  Our name will go on the adoption plaque and the zoo will keep us updated of her progress.  We also get an educational visit from the zookeepers at school which we will do in the Spring Term.  Thank you to all the children and parents who donated money to our adoption fund.  Perhaps you will go to the zoo to visit her and see our plaque too.

Lunch at the Zoo

We enjoyed our lunch at the zoo whilst watching the seal ion show.  They performed lots of tricks and entertained us whilst we ate.  We did have a few unwelcome visitors though.  The seagulls were extremely tempted by our sandwiches and tried to pinch them which was very funny.  We had to get Mrs Hill to be on seagull patrol!

Adopt the tiger fund raising day.

Thank you to all parents who came to join us for our forest school activities today followed by the tasting of our delicious homemade tomato soup.  The children had a great afternoon and enjoyed having lots of parents joining them.  We raised £100.00 towards adopting Alyona our tiger.

Fruity Friday

As part of our healthy eating topic this term we are taking part in  'Fruity Fridays'.  This involves the children tasting different fruits each Friday.  This week we tasted pineapple and used our senses to describe what it tasted like, smelt like, felt like and looked like.  We also looked at where in the world pineapples come from.  Discoverers are looking forward to trying lots more exotic fruits over the coming weeks.  I wonder which ones will be their favorites?

A warm welcome to all Discoverers

Mrs Howarth, Mrs Williams and Mrs Witts hope that you have all had a great summer. It has been lovely to see all of your smiley faces in the last couple of days full of excitement for the year ahead. We can’t believe how much some of you have grown over the holidays. We are all looking forward to the fun things we have planned for this year and seeing your minds grow too!

Our first topic this half term will be based on the book ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’. We will be looking at healthy eating, how to stay healthy and where our food comes from. We will be studying an Italian artist called Giuseppe Arcimboldo who is best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of fruits and vegetables. I hope we can create some amazing ones ourselves!! We will be tantalising our taste buds by trying some exotic fruits on ‘Fruity Fridays’ and we are going to adopt our very own tiger at the zoo then pay him a visit later on in the term.

So get ready for an action packed half term full of exciting activities and remember always try your best and never give up .  If you do this you will get off to a 'Roaring' start in Discoverers Class.

CHOCOLATIER VISIT FOR DISCOVERERS

As part of their ‘From Bean to Bar’ topic Discoverers had a visit from a real Chocolatier. Oliver came into school to talk to the children about how chocolate starts as a bean and the process it goes through to end up as tasty chocolate. The children learnt lots of new language reated to the process including- tempering, winowing, nibs harvesting and fermenting. The children had fun turning the melted chocolate into different shaped chocolates adding detail by piping different coloured melted chococolate through a piping bag. They took their chocolate home to enjoy!

Discoverers Class had a lovely time on their visit to Hopwood Woods on Wednesday. They enjoyed cooking sausages for lunch and marshmallows as a treat. They learnt how to pitch tents and set up a base camp.

They took part in a Treasure Hunt and made some shelters with natural materials. They all had a wonderful time!